By James L Hill (aka J. L. Hill)
People ask is writing Sci-Fi harder than other genres. I have to say, “Yes,” sorry historians and romantics. In a romance you have few characters and you know what they are going to do, fall in love. In historical fictions the scene is set for you, your characters have a preset framework to act out your story. I’m not saying you don’t have your work cut out for you; you still have to write an interesting story with believable characters.
However science fiction has no preset framework, your story can literally be about anything. Your characters can be tasked with a wide array of situations to overcome. Couple with the fact that your characters don’t have to be humans, or even living organisms, and you can see the complexity of sci-fi stories. And, of course, it still has to be interesting with believable characters, whatever they may be.
Sometimes you have to characterize machines. Robots tend to be giving human characteristics. I make my robots non-human in function and design. The human body is great for us, but for many functions it is not the optimal design. For traveling two legs are good, four legs are better, and wheels are the best. Depending on the territory to traverse, more wheels will be better than fewer. So the characteristics of a robot meant to travel across different terrain would be more like a centipede then a humanoid.
Some science fiction writers go to great lengths to characterize the simple. I do not appreciate reading a thousand words to tell me that yrneh jumped on an esroh and disappeared into the sunset. Just say, “Henry jumped on his horse and rode away.” On whatever planet Henry may live, a horse will still be a horse, or horse-like. If you are writing about something as simple as a horse then say so and move on with the story.
Writers also love to amaze their readers with complex societies. But actually societies, no matter what they are made of, are basically the same. Whether they are a colony of ants, hive of bees, pack of wolves, pride of lions, or tribe of humans, they have the same social structure.
Recently I was doing yard work and stepped on a hornets nest. I didn’t know hornets built underground nests. Some of the hornets started attacking me, others swarmed the entrance protecting it, while still a few more circled high overhead as lookouts. You find this defense technique spread across many species where there is a division of duties. We don’t need pages of descriptions of the society that make up life on some distant planet unless it goes against the norm.
Lastly, don’t waste time describing a character that is never going to be mentioned again. One or two words descriptors will suffice quite well for minor characters. An ebony queen, a herculean warrior, or that wretched derelict paints a perfect picture that a five minute diatribe will never do any better.
Science fiction may be complex, but writing sci-fi doesn’t have to be. Don’t make your story more complicated by long winded descriptions of the obvious. Short simple scenes we are all familiar with will move the story along nicely. You can use the extra verbiage to convey characters that truly only exist in your mind.
You can also find me on the world wide web (a long drawn out description) at these locations:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamshi57
Website: https://www.jlhill-books.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnXvHY-BxKHzT4moEVAVYwg
People ask is writing Sci-Fi harder than other genres. I have to say, “Yes,” sorry historians and romantics. In a romance you have few characters and you know what they are going to do, fall in love. In historical fictions the scene is set for you, your characters have a preset framework to act out your story. I’m not saying you don’t have your work cut out for you; you still have to write an interesting story with believable characters.
However science fiction has no preset framework, your story can literally be about anything. Your characters can be tasked with a wide array of situations to overcome. Couple with the fact that your characters don’t have to be humans, or even living organisms, and you can see the complexity of sci-fi stories. And, of course, it still has to be interesting with believable characters, whatever they may be.
Sometimes you have to characterize machines. Robots tend to be giving human characteristics. I make my robots non-human in function and design. The human body is great for us, but for many functions it is not the optimal design. For traveling two legs are good, four legs are better, and wheels are the best. Depending on the territory to traverse, more wheels will be better than fewer. So the characteristics of a robot meant to travel across different terrain would be more like a centipede then a humanoid.
Some science fiction writers go to great lengths to characterize the simple. I do not appreciate reading a thousand words to tell me that yrneh jumped on an esroh and disappeared into the sunset. Just say, “Henry jumped on his horse and rode away.” On whatever planet Henry may live, a horse will still be a horse, or horse-like. If you are writing about something as simple as a horse then say so and move on with the story.
Writers also love to amaze their readers with complex societies. But actually societies, no matter what they are made of, are basically the same. Whether they are a colony of ants, hive of bees, pack of wolves, pride of lions, or tribe of humans, they have the same social structure.
Recently I was doing yard work and stepped on a hornets nest. I didn’t know hornets built underground nests. Some of the hornets started attacking me, others swarmed the entrance protecting it, while still a few more circled high overhead as lookouts. You find this defense technique spread across many species where there is a division of duties. We don’t need pages of descriptions of the society that make up life on some distant planet unless it goes against the norm.
Lastly, don’t waste time describing a character that is never going to be mentioned again. One or two words descriptors will suffice quite well for minor characters. An ebony queen, a herculean warrior, or that wretched derelict paints a perfect picture that a five minute diatribe will never do any better.
Science fiction may be complex, but writing sci-fi doesn’t have to be. Don’t make your story more complicated by long winded descriptions of the obvious. Short simple scenes we are all familiar with will move the story along nicely. You can use the extra verbiage to convey characters that truly only exist in your mind.
You can also find me on the world wide web (a long drawn out description) at these locations:
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlhill57
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamshi57
Website: https://www.jlhill-books.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnXvHY-BxKHzT4moEVAVYwg
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